A new special education procedural safeguards notice, A Guide to Parent Rights in Special Education, is now available for school district and parent use and can be viewed by clicking here. This publication replaces the earlier procedural safeguards notice, Whose IDEA Is This? WARNING: As of August 1, 2017, school districts may no longer use Whose IDEA Is […]

As we previously blogged, the United States Supreme Court was asked, in the case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, to answer the following question: What level of educational benefit must school districts confer on children with disabilities in order to provide them with the free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) guaranteed by the Individuals […]

In Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, 580 U.S. ____ (2017), the United States Supreme Court held that administrative exhaustion “is not necessary when the gravamen of the plaintiff’s suit is something other than the denial of the [Individuals With Disabilities Education Act’s (“IDEA”)] core guarantee—what the Act calls a ‘free and appropriate public education.’” The […]

On January 11, 2017, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, No. 15-827, in which our Nation’s highest court is asked to answer the question: What level of educational benefit must school districts confer on children with disabilities in order to provide them with […]

Over the past decade, McGown & Markling has been surprised by the number of school districts of residence that refuse or fail to provide special education and related services to their students in community corrections facilities and juvenile detention centers as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (“IDEA”) and accompanying federal and […]

In the case of Q.W. v. Bd. of Edn., 6th Cir. No. 15-5160, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5160, the parents of a student with autism appealed a school board’s decision that their son’s condition did not adversely affect his educational performance and, as a result, he was no longer eligible for special education services under […]